Behind The Fires
by AwesomePossum123
Summary: Explanation of how Amelia Pond and the Twelfth Doctor were actually in Pompeii at the same time as the Tenth Doctor and Donna!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** So, this story is definitely different from some of my other ones. Since Karen Gillan (Actress who plays Amelia Pond) and Peter Capaldi (The Twelfth Doctor) were both seen in the episode 'The Fires Of Pompeii' By: James Moran, I thought it'd be interesting to write a story explaining why they both were there.

Note: It's not too big a deal, but Amy/11 just finished 'The Beast Below,' 10/Donna obviously just finished 'Partners In Crime,' and who knows what 12/'Marissa' just finished. :P

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Doctor Who or any of it's characters.

* * *

"Ancient Rome. Well, not to them, obviously. To all intents and purposes, right now, this is brand new Rome." The Doctor grinned and stepped out of the TARDIS, pulling away a curtain, revealing a busy Roman street.

"Oh my God... It's so... Roman!" Donna spun around, looking at the beautiful scene. "This is fantastic!" She pulled the Time-Lord in for a hug, rewarded with a laugh.

* * *

"Tell me you have not gotten us stuck in Rome!" The twelfth Doctor's companion Marissa groaned. "You can't find the TARDIS, and volcano day is tomorrow!"

"I've said I'm sorry! Look, I can put up a perception filter, put us into a normal Roman family. It'll be fun, eh?" The Doctor nudged Marissa, who only gave a groan in reply.

"Fine, but you'd better find that bloody police box soon! Can I pick my Roman name? I'd like to be... Oh! Metella! I took Latin in school as a kid, and in the book there were all these characters and my favorite was always Metella!"

"You be Metella, I'll be Caecilius," The Doctor smirked and grabbed her hand, walking towards a house in Pompeii. "You know, I've been to Rome before. Two regenerations ago," He glanced over at the now confused Marrisa, "It's basically when I change my whole body..."

"You what?!" She stopped walking and glared at him.

"Yeah, should've explained that earlier," He pinched the bridge of his nose, "Always need to explain that earlier..."

"Anything else you haven't told me?" His sassy companion folded her arms and stared at him.

"Two hearts?" He suggested, smiling lightly.

"Two hearts? Now you're bloody joking!"

"Yes, definitely joking. Now come on!" He encouraged, nodding towards the house.

* * *

"Doctor, where are we going now?" Amy said excitedly, watching as the eleventh Doctor flit about the TARDIS.

"Where would you like to go? We can go absolutely anywhere!" He smiled back at her.

"Let's go... To Rome! I love Romans!"

"Rome it is! Come on, old girl!" The Doctor pulled a lever but the TARDIS just hummed angrily. "She doesn't want to take us, probably because I've been to Rome before... Wouldn't want me crossing my own time stream... But I'll be careful, come on!" He urged the ship, and surprisingly it followed his instructions.

But the ship was still angry, so she lurched and twisted them around, until Amelia and the Doctor were both falling out of the police box doors. Luckily, they were only a few feet off the ground. They crashed into the busy Roman street, noticing the several people staring at them. The Doctor looked up to see his TARDIS flying away. "Oh no... Come back!" He pulled out his key and groaned. "Amy, I think we're stuck here a while."

"What will we do? Stuck in Rome, surrounded by fun, interesting things!"

"We'll need to blend in, it will be hard to avoid me seeing myself without the TARDIS. Go... Do something Romany... Become a soothsayer or something!"

"A soothsayer? Are you serious?" Amy laughed at the thought and followed him down the street.

"I am serious! We could be here a while!" He straightened his bow tie and started speaking to a Roman man on the side of the road, "Do you know where I can buy a house?"

* * *

"Welsh. You sound Welsh. There we are, learnt something," The Doctor smiled and walked away with Donna.

What the two travelers didn't see, however, was Amelia Pond, dressed as a soothsayer. (The Doctor had teased her for the make-up on her face, to which she replied, 'It's still better than the bow tie!') She watched the tenth Doctor and his companion carefully and curiously. Her Doctor, the eleventh, had described exactly what his last regeneration looked like, insisting that it would only matter if he saw himself, since the tenth Doctor hadn't met Amy yet. She followed them carefully.

"Mm. Ages ago. Before you ask, that fire had nothing to do with me. Well... a little bit. But I haven't got the chance to look around properly. Colosseum, Pantheon, Circus Maximus... you'd expect them to be looming by now. Where is everything?" Amy heard him reply to Donna's question. This was definitely the Doctor. How exciting! She finally got to see his past, the one he never talked about. Right now her Doctor was back at their temporary little Roman house, probably causing a lot of trouble.

After a few more minutes of watching them, suddenly the ground started shaking crazily beneath their feet. "Wait a minute... One mountain, with smoke... Which makes this..." Donna stared shocked at the Doctor.

He finished her thought, "Pompeii. We're in Pompeii. And it's volcano day!"

Amy ran away from them and decided to report it to the fellow soothsayers. There was an old legend of a blue box, the Doctor said it was from when he had visited Pompeii in an even earlier regeneration, and if she was going to play the part, she needed to report the box.

She ran into the temple that she was, by now, very familiar with. Getting on her knees, she bowed in front of the higher priestess, "I beg audience with the High Priestess of the Sibylline."

"The High Priestess cannot be seen. What would you tell her, sister?" The woman said, looking at Amy with curiosity. What if this woman could see through her disguise? After all, they were supposed to be able to see through things.

"It has come as foretold in the prophecy. The box, the blue box." Amy does her best to imitate the woman's fear. She just hopes that the Doctor can get her out of here before they get caught.

* * *

"Marrisa!" Caecilius/The twelfth Doctor whispered to his companion, "I found the TARDIS! Look!" He nodded towards the police box.

"Great, let's get out of here... Soon... But keep up the acting!" She whispered back.

"Modern Art! Out of the way, that's it!" Caecilius pushed away his servants and looked at his magnificent ship. He must have left it out on the street! How silly of him!

He turned to a servant, "Oh Rombus, I'm a little bit peckish. Get me some ants in honey, there's a good man. Ooh, maybe a dormouse!"

Metella looked at the TARDIS then back at Caecilius and looked at him disapprovingly. He was a very good actor, she had to admit. If she didn't know him better, he could definitely be a Roman man. Except for the modern art thing, the Romans were much smarter than that. She wondered why they didn't hop into the TARDIS now and fly away.

* * *

"You're kidding. Not telling me the TARDIS is gone!" Donna said in disbelief, angry at the Doctor. He lost the ship. In Pompeii. Right before volcano day!

"Ok," He replied, a bit amused.

"Where is it then?"

"You... Told me not to tell you..." The Doctor tried not to meet her angry glare.

"Oi! Don't get clever in Latin!" She retorted.

"Hold on," He ran towards a man on the side of the road and asked, "'Scuse me, 'scuse me, there was a box, big blue box, big blue wooden box, just over there, where is it gone?"

"Sold it," The man smiled proudly, "Didn't I?"

"But it wasn't yours to sell!" The Doctor wanted to look back at Donna, but was too scared.

"It was on my patch, weren't it? I got 15 sesterce for it, lovely jubbly."

"Who did you sell it to?" The Doctor groaned. Another search for the TARDIS. Before volcano day. Great.

"Old Caecilius. Look, if you want to argue, why don't you take it out with him? He's on Foss Street, big villa, can't miss it."

Caecilius. That sounded like a very stereotypical Roman name. If the Doctor could pick any Roman name, it'd definitely be Caecilius. He said a thanks and then walked with Donna, searching for where this Caecilius lived.

* * *

Donna was upset with the Doctor. He wasn't saving the people of Pompeii from the volcano! How ridiculous was that? He looked at her disapprovingly, "What do you want a bell for?"

"To warn everyone! Start the evacuation! When does Vesuvius erupt? When's it due?" She asked.

"It's 79AD, August 23rd, which makes volcano day, tomorrow!" He said back, his voice rising a bit. He didn't want to have this conversation, not at all. Donna was one companion who was painful to have, even though she was so sweet and good. She definitely put him to the test, and no matter how much he denied it, he needed that more than anything.

"Plenty of time! We could get everyone out, easy!"

He sighed, "Yeah. Except we're not going to."

"But that's what you do! You're the Doctor! You save people!" She looked at him with such expectation his hearts broke.

She was right, he is the Doctor, he does save people. But this time, he couldn't. He tried to convince himself that he really, truly couldn't. "Not this time; Pompeii is a fixed point in history. What happens happens. There is no stopping it." He stated simply, walking away.

Donna held him back, "Says who?"

"Says me!"

"What, you're in charge?"

"Time-Lord, TARDIS, yeah!"

"Donna, human, NO! I don't need your permission, I'll tell them myself!"

She was by far the sassiest companion he had ever had, he'd give her that. "You sound about the place, announce the end of the world, and they'll just think you're a mad old soothsayer, now come on! TARDIS, we are getting out of here!"

He walked towards Caecilius's house, burning with rage. "Well I must just have something to say about that, spaceman!"

"Oh I bet you will!" He smiled a little when she followed after him reluctantly.

Amy was still watching them curiously. The past Doctor and his companion, Donna. She wondered what would happen to her, how he would lose her. Maybe she just grew old and he dropped her back off at home. That'd be nice. But anyways, she had to stay in character! Amy put her hands on her eyes and spoke through the telepathic link that the sisters had. Honestly, she had no idea how it worked. The eleventh Doctor had explained it to her, but it didn't really make much sense.

"The tall one... He calls us mad..."

Another sister immediately answered her call, "Then he is a stranger to Pompeii. Soon he shall learn."

* * *

"Positions!" The twelfth Doctor yelled at his companion and Roman 'family.' He had been here long enough to know the proper procedure for the shaking of the ground. Obviously, it was coming from Vesuvius, but he couldn't exactly tell anyone that, except Marissa.

Suddenly, a very, very familiar man caught a statue in the twelfth Doctor's house that had been about to fall. A man who was all too familiar. A man with _very_ great hair. "There you go!"

Oh no... The tenth regeneration of himself was here. This couldn't be happening, oh wait, it could be. He remembered this... It all made sense now. He had to act. More importantly, he had to get the past version of himself out of here. "Thank you, kind sir. I'm afraid bussiness is closed for the day. I'm expecting a visitor." He said nervously. Marissa obviously sensed his distress.

"But that's me. I'm a visitor, hello!" The past version said, dashing into the room. Oh no, could this get any worse? The twelfth Doctor tried to remember what had happened, after all he should have the memories, shouldn't he? But it was as if something was forbidding him to remember this day in his life. Probably the TARDIS and her persistent attempts to prevent him from crossing his own time-stream. Great job she had done.

Acting. He had to remember to act.

"Who are you?"

"I am... Spartacus," The tenth Doctor said. The future version had forgotten how funny this day had been for him.

"And so am I," Donna spoke.

Oh no, Donna. Donna, the woman he had lost. He could barely look at her. She was here, so happy, on an adventure with him. Too bad he couldn't just whisk her away now, explain everything to her, and fly away in the TARDIS he had just found. Wait a minute. The TARDIS he had found. It belonged to the tenth Doctor, didn't it?

He had stolen his own bloody TARDIS. The irony here was giving him a migraine.

"Mr. and Mrs. Spartacus?" He suggested, playing along with the Roman theme.

"Oh, no no," The tenth Doctor said quickly, "We're not, we're not married."

"We're not together," Donna agreed.

"Oh, then brother and sister? Yes of course! You look very much alike!" The twelfth Doctor wanted to fall on the ground in laughter. He was messing with the past version of himself and Donna! This was absolutely priceless! If only he could forget the fact that he had lost Donna, so awfully...

"Really?" The two companions said together, eyes wide.

"I'm sorry, I'm not open for trade," The future Doctor decided it was time to end this joke, no matter how hilarious it was.

"And that trade would be?" The tenth Doctor asked.

"Marble. Lobus Caecilius. Mining, polishing and design thereof. If you want marble, I'm your man." He knew exactly how to play this off. After all, he had become an expert at being Roman.

"That's good. That's good cause, I'm a marble inspector."

Dangit. This past version of him was clever, brilliant, actually.

* * *

"So... I saw you, and a woman named Donna in Pompeii," Amy finished her report, grinning at the eleventh Doctor, who didn't look so happy.

"Oh, Donna... I miss her," The eleventh Doctor mumbled sadly, leaning back in the chair he was sitting in.

"What happened?" Concerned, she rested her hand on his shoulder carefully.

"Long story... Anyways... Good job acting, well... Roman. I didn't think you'd actually be able to make it as a soothsayer!"

"I didn't think you'd be able to be a coquus!"

"Hey! You're learning Latin!" He exclaimed happily, fixing his bow tie as he had already done several times when she was telling her story.

"Coquus means cook doesn't it? How am I learning Latin if all I hear is english?"

"Wibbly Wobbly... Timey Wimey... The translation matrix of the TARDIS is confusing. Don't worry about it," The Doctor smiled proudly.

* * *

Marissa had overheard this entire conversation between her Doctor, the spiky haired man, and the red headed girl, and knew she had to play along, no matter who this 'Mr. and Mrs. Spartacus' were. "By the gods of commerce! An inspection!" Marissa took away the glass of wine from her son. She had to act natural, make her Doctor see she was definitely good enough to be traveling with him. "I'm sorry, sir, I do apologize for my son."

"Oi!" The boy named Quintus said. The twelfth Doctor and his companion had been amused by the sassiness of their 'son' the entire time they had been playing their parts in this Roman household.

"And this is my good wife, Metella," The future Doctor gestured towards Marissa, "I must confess... We're not prepared for..."

"Nothing to worry about, I'm sure you have nothing to hide..." The tenth Doctor approached the TARDIS. "Although frankly, that object looks rather like wood to me."

Of course. He wanted the TARDIS. Obviously.

"I told you to get rid of it," Marissa glared at him, starting to understand.

"I only bought it today!" Her eyes were obviously asking for an explanation, so he used a tone that said he'd tell her later.

"Ah well... Caveat Emptor," Said the past Doctor.

"Oh you're celtic, there's lovely."

"I'm sure it's fine, but I might have to take it off your hands for a proper inspection."

He could have the TARDIS back, the twelfth Doctor didn't mind. However, he remembered how his Donna was, and knew that this conversation wasn't over.

"Although while we're here, wouldn't you recommend a holiday, Spartacus?" Donna asked, her voice piercing daggers into her Doctor.

"Don't know what you mean, Spartacus," He retorted nervously.

"Oh, this lovely family. Mother and father and son. Don't you think they should get out of town?"

"Why should we do that?" The future Doctor interrupted. Donna was so silly, if only she knew that he would be fine. The fires wouldn't kill him, though sadly he couldn't say the same for Quintus or their daughter.

"Well, the volcano, for starters," She said sassily.

Romans didn't have a word for volcano, he reminded himself. He had to sound puzzled. "What?"

"Volcano."

"Whatano?"

"The great big volcano right on your doorstep!"

"Oh Spartacus, for shame. We haven't even greeted the household gods yet." The tenth Doctor pulled Donna towards the shrine, probably to explain what was happening to her.

Suddenly, a servant spoke. "Announcing Lucius Petrus Dextrus, Chief Augur of the City Government."

A man walked in, and the twelfth Doctor knew he had to convince the augur he was definitely a Roman citizen. He already had a perception filter on him, of course, so that shouldn't be too hard. "Lucius. My pleasure as always."

* * *

**Author's Notes:** The second half should be up soon! I hope you've enjoyed this different POV of the episode! Please review and tell me what you think ^.^


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Just to remind you all:

Caecilius=The twelfth Doctor.

Metella=Marissa.

Donna=Her sassy self.

* * *

"Quintus! Stand up!" Marissa yelled at her fake son.

"A rare and great honor sir, for you to come to my house," The twelfth Doctor smiled politely, his thoughts still focused on Donna.

"The birds are flying north, but the wind is in the west," Lucius stated.

Sometimes, the Doctor forgot how silly Romans were. "Quite. Absolutely. That's good, is it?"

"Only the grain of wheat knows where it will grow."

The twelfth Doctor wanted to groan, what the heck was that supposed to mean? "There now, Metella, have you ever heard such wisdom?" He said to his companion, a low sarcasm in his voice that he knew only she would pick up.

"Never. It's an honor," She replied, holding in her laughter.

"Pardon me, sir, I have guests... This is Spartacus, and Spartacus."

The tenth Doctor and Donna waved politely at Lucius. However, the tenth Doctor was beginning to suspect there was something strange about this family. Ah, whatever.

"A name is but a cloud on summer wind," Lucius said.

"But the wind is felt most keenly in the dark," Ten replied wittily.

The twelfth Doctor smiled to himself, oh, that regeneration of his had been good.

"Ah, but what is the dark, other than an omen of the sun?"

"I concede that every sun must set," Ten said, although he was just getting started.

Lucius laughed, clearly thinking he had won this.

"And yet the son of the father must also rise," The Doctor finished, proudly.

"Damn," Lucius said simply. "Very clever sir, evidently a man of learning."

"Oh yes. But don't mind me, don't want to disturb the status quo."

Caecilius chuckled at his tenth self's ignorance at the time. "He's Celtic," Twelve explained apologetically to Lucius.

"We'll be off in a minute," The tenth Doctor assured them, smiling.

However, Donna was stubborn. "I'm not going."

"It's ready, sir," Twelve said to Lucius on the side. He had made the marble that the man had requested, however he did have a strange feeling about it. How would a piece of marble as advanced as that fit into the Roman scenery?

"You've got to," Ten whispered to Donna, annoyed at her.

"The moment of revelation!" The cloth was removed from on top of the marble to reveal it, an intricate pattern about the size of a tile. "And here it is! Exactly as you specified. It pleases you, sir?"

"As rain pleases the soil."

The tenth Doctor took the same interest as the twelfth had when he saw the marble. "Oh now, that's different. Who designed that then?"

"My lord Lucius was very specific," Caecilius explained, stealing a glance at Metella when nobody was looking.

"Where did you get the pattern?" Ten asked curiously.

"On the mist and rain and wind."

Donna whispered to her Doctor so only he would hear, "That looks like a _circuit_."

"Made of stone..." He replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you mean you just dreamt that thing up?" Donna said with her usual sassiness, making Caecilius smirk a little at the memories. He missed Donna badly.

"That is my job, as city Augur," Lucius said simply.

"What's that then, like the mayor?"

"Oh, you must excuse my friend. She's from... Er... Barcelona," Ten pulled Donna to the side and talked to her in a quiet, calm voice, "Not, but this is an age of superstition, of official superstition. The Augur is paid by the city to tell the future. 'The wind will blow from the west', that's the equivalent of Ten O'Clock News."

Suddenly, Evelina entered the room looking unbelievably sickly. Twelve looked at his companion who looked just as shocked as the rest of them. "They're laughing at us... Those two, they use words like tricksters. They're mocking us." She spoke in a confused voice.

"No no no, I meant no offense." Ten said quickly.

"I'm sorry, my daughter's been consuming the vapors," Marissa said, feeling an extreme wave of guilt. She had known that certain girls around here consumed vapors, but is this really what it did to them? Rome really was a messed up place. Her eyes flickered to the TARDIS in the corner of the room. Couldn't they all just leave?

"Oh for gods, mother, what have you been doing to her?" Quintus asked out of concern for his sister, and Marissa felt more guilt.

"Not now, Quintus," She replied firmly.

"Yeah but she's sick, just look at her!"

Lucius spoke then in a ruder tone than before. "I gather that I have a rival in this household. Another one with the gift."

Metella was proud of her fake daughter, even though, well, she was fake. "Oh, she's been promised to the Sibylline Sisterhood. They say she has remarkable visions."

"The prophecies of women are limited and dull. Only menfolk have the capacity for true perception," Lucius said, gaining a nasty look from Donna.

"I'll tell you where the wind's blowing right now, mate," Donna sassed.

The mountain roared and Lucius's expression grew scared, "The mountain god marks your words. I'd be careful, if I were you."

"Consuming the vapors, you said?" Ten said, looking over Evelina curiously.

The girl replied vaguely, "They give me strength."

"It doesn't look like it to me."

"Is that your opinion... As a _doctor?_" She said simply, staring at him.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Doctor... That's your name."

He was completely and utterly taken aback by this point, but not as shocked as Donna, Marissa, and twelve were. Everyone in the room was staring at Evelina at this point, and Lucius's face was priceless. How could this simple Roman girl actually discover his name through inhaling a bunch of vapors? Sure, the vapors would make her sick, that made perfect sense. Even the strange connection through the Sibylline Sister's hands had some sort of scientific explanation, at least they assumed. But this?

"And you..." Evelina said, turning to Donna. "You call yourself Noble..."

"Now then, Evelina, don't be rude," Melissa said, determined not to look as scared as she felt.

"No no no, let her talk," Ten insisted, curious as to what she would say next.

"You both come from so far away..."

Lucius stared at the three of them, "The female soothsayer is inclined to invent all sorts of vagaries." There was no way this girl could be correct, certainly?

"Oh, not this time, Lucius. I reckon you've been out-soothsayed," Donna's Doctor spoke.

Then Lucius said something that shocked_ everyone _in the room. "Is that so... Man from Gallifrey?"

Both Doctors' eyes widened at this. This was _definitely _impossible. It went against every law of the universe! Even Gallifreyans couldn't tell the future like that. "...What?"

"Strangest of images... Your home is lost in fire, is it not?" Lucius said.

The two Time-Lords swallowed at the same time and pain smacked them both like a cricket bat to the face. Just the word Gallifrey killed them a little on the inside.

"And you... Daughter of, London," The soothsayer turned to Donna, who backed away a little instinctively.

"How does he know that?" She asked the Doctor, who for once didn't have a witty retort.

"This is the gift of Pompeii. Every single oracle tells the truth," Lucius explained like it was obvious.

"That's impossible," Donna stated.

"Doctor... She is returning."

The tenth Doctor's hearts beat faster in his chest. "Who? Who is? Who's she?" Lucius couldn't mean... No. He needed to snap out of it. Lucius couldn't know about Rose, that was impossible.

"And you, daughter of London. There's something on your back."

Donna's fear began showing as she desperately tried to feel anything on her back. She had heard those words before, but never knew what they meant. She still didn't. "What's that mean?"

"Even the word Doctor is false," Evelina said. "Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa herself. You are a Lord, sir. A Lord... of Time."

Falling to the ground randomly, Evelina's eyes shut and the Doctor and Metella ran to catch her. "Evelina!" Metella exclaimed.

* * *

"Tu es stultus." Amy smiled brightly at the Doctor, sticking her tongue out.

It reminded him of Rose for a millisecond, and he winced to himself before snapping out of it. "Told you you're learning. Tu es stultior quam asinus."

"Oi! Watch the language!" Her Scottish drawl didn't fit the Latin words, however she was pulling it off anyways.

* * *

**TRANSLATION: **Tu es stultus - You are stupid.

Tu es stultior quam asinus. - You are stupider than a donkey.

Coquus - Cook.

* * *

"Anyways..." Amy laid back in her chair and stared at him. "How much longer are we going to be here?"

"Not sure. I guess once my other two selves here work out their issues, sister of the Sibylline," He said her new title jokingly, tilting his head back over the chair to look behind him at the commoners of Pompeii who were eyeing them strangely. "What's up with those crude drawings on your hands anyways? You guys having some creepy soothsayer slumber-parties?"

"I told you, it's their creepy telepathic thingy."

"Telepathic thingy?"

"Yes, telepathic thingy!" She replied, picking up a peacock feather from her lap and throwing it at him.

"Don't you need to get back to your top secret soothsayer business?"

"Don't you need to get back to coquay business?"

"It's coquus. Coh-cu-us." He said the syllables slowly.

"Coh cu us. Got it. See you later.

* * *

Back at the Roman house, Metella and Donna were tending to the unconscious Evelina. "She didn't mean to be rude. She's ever such a good girl. But when the Gods speak through her..." Marissa said to Donna with complete honestly. The fumes freaked her out, she had only made Evelina do it since it was normal in this time period, according to the Doctor anyways. But in all honestly Marissa was starting to doubt the solidness of some of the facts he told her.

After unwrapping a bandage on Evelina's arm, Donna was shocked to see gray, stone-like skin underneath. "What's wrong with her arm?"

"Irritation of the skin," The woman explained. "She never complains, bless her. We bathe it in olive oil every night."

"What is it?" Donna mumbled, examining the arm.

"Evelina said you'd come from far away. Please, have you ever seen anything like it?..."

Gently reaching out to touch the arm, Donna was shocked when it felt like pure stone. "It's stone."

* * *

The Doctor pulled away the grille covering where the vapors were inhaled by Evelina, with the twelfth Doctor/Caecilius by his side. "Different sort of hypocaust."

"Oh, yes. We're very advanced in Pompeii. In Rome, they're still using the old wood-burning furnaces. But we've got hot springs, leading from Vesuvius itself."

"Who thought of that?" He replied, disgusted.

"The soothsayers. After the great earthquake, seventeen years ago. An awful lot of damage, but we rebuilt," Twelve replied, trying to put some pride into his voice even though he hadn't been there for the great earthquake seventeen years ago.

"Didn't you think of moving away? No, then again, San Francisco..." Ten muttered, arguing with himself.

"That's a new restaurant in Naples?"

A loud roar came from within the vent, fumes came out with it. "What's that noise?"

"Don't know. Happens all the time. They say the gods of underworld are stirring," Twelve said, and for a moment he forgot he was Caecilius instead of the Doctor.

"But after the earthquake, let me guess. The soothsayers started making sense?"

"Oh, yes, very much so. I mean, they'd always been, shall we say, imprecise? But then - the soothsayers, the augurs, the haruspex, all of them, they saw the truth, again and again. It's quite amazing. They can predict crops and rainfall with absolute precision."

The tenth Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Haven't they said anything about tomorrow?"

Twelve knew he had to fake confusion. Obviously, tomorrow was volcano day. But 'Caecilius' shouldn't know that. "No, why, should they? Why did you ask?"

"No no no, I'm just asking... But the soothsayers. They all consume these vapors, yeah?"

"That's how they see."

"Ipso facto."

"Look, you," Twelve hoped this would end soon. The pain of seeing his past self was growing into too much.

"They're all consuming this," The other Doctor murmured, rubbing some of the rocks in between his fingers and tasting them.

"Rocks?" Caecilius said, like it wasn't very important, even though he knew it was.

"Volcanic ash. They're breathing in Vesuvius."

* * *

**A/N:** Hope you enjoyed! Part three will probably be up a lot sooner than this one was, sorry for the delay. Please review if you enjoyed! :)


End file.
